If I Was an Absolute Ruler For a Day 9/7/10
Oh my…If I was given the power to be an absolute ruler of the world for one day, world peace and the cure to poverty and hunger might actually happen before 2012. By being an absolute ruler means that I act as the marionette that controls the world that is my puppets or my subordinates. Using my power of absolutism, I could control my puppets to remove each other as needed to achieve my certain goals. For my day to start off as an absolute ruler, I must kill many people, but most importantly George Bush. Why George Bush many may ask? George Bush single-handedly destroyed the great prosperity that once was the U.S. by passing idiotic laws and performing actions decided by impulse and not focused nor informed thinking. Killing him is like saving the world from one loose cannon that could destroy the world by just being his idiotic self. That’s one step towards world peace at least. The next step involves killing all communist leaders because as much as the ideal of communism is great, it’s never going to happen. Oh, just so you know, by this time, I should not be revolted against nor lose my throne because I should be the last existing leader at the time or I’ll make it so. After the issue of leadership is resolved, making a monotonous religion is direly needed otherwise there will be no world peace. Being the absolute ruler and that one person chosen by God, whatever I deem as the one true religion will be so unless people want to be killed for not following my orders. Unity of religion with the combination of one leader automatically leads to world peace regardless of what happens. When world peace happens, poverty is slowly removed for people begin to understand each other for trust builds between everyone. From the end of poverty ends the curse of world hunger for if you aren’t poor, you can afford food to eat. Had I been an absolute ruler for a day, I think I could win over the world and push it into the future before we all die on December 21, 2012.

Enlightenment Thinkers 9/13/10
The definition of being enlightened is being factually well-informed, tolerant of alternative opinions, and guided by rational thought. During the Enlightenment, more and more philosophers and thinkers began thinking more rationally, began thinking of new answers to ancient debates, and actually began getting a clue in how the world works. What was the key to the sudden rise of the Enlightenment? Knowledge. Education. Wisdom. With education came subjects like physics and science, which led to the rise of people like Galileo Galilei or Leonardo Da Vinci establishing theories like the sun is the center of the galaxy or the Da Vinci code. Also with education, more and more people came to understand that the whole thing behind God and the clergy was one big pile of crap that you spot on your walk from place to place and inspired to learn how the world really worked without religion ruling their lives. Without religion, Enlightment thinkers couldn’t get their points to the people: separating state and government from religion. Thinkers like John Locke or Machiavelli was considered lunatics or sinners by those who didn’t understand their objectives and life works. To people who were not educated, the Enlightenment was an opportunity to rise up and learn and understand that religion is the only thing that guides people in life. All in all, education was the reason people became enlightened, which is why the era was known as the Enlightenment.

How I believe the French Revolution Began 9/20/10
The French Revolution is one of the most argueably brutal yet liberal revolution in all of history. Lasting from 1789 to 1799, a whopping 11 years, the French Revolution began with the conovaction of the Estates-General in May. Following the conovaction included, but not limited to, acts like members of the Third Estate proclaiming the Tennis Court Oath in June, the assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the Declaration of rights of Man and of the Citizen in August, and the epic march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October. What does all this fancy talk mean? The French who were not rich or nobles revolted and took over major establishments early on, pushed the royal court back to the capital of France, and declared their cause of revolution as for independence! But all in all, everyone must understand that years of oppression and having a corrupt government who cared little for the lower classes cause the French Revolution. The whole event was not a sudden thing; like the American Revolution, the French Revolution was a build-up of rage and anger built upons years, decades, even centuries of oppression, which justifies the bloodshed that is the French Revolution.

CCQ on Juan's and Sarah's View on how the French Revolutoin began 9/20/10
I agree with your first point; the peasants and lower classes were definitely getting tired of being poor and oppressed by the rich and noble who just blew money like candy. I don't believe that the revolt was to take back control of the government however. I believe the peasants and lower classes just wanted to take the money of the rich and distribute it to all as evenly as possible and kill off all who were proclaimed rich. Also, revolutions do not start suddenly and end suddenly. The American Revolution, for example, was YEARS of dissent among colonial Americans that suddenly exploded after taking too much oppression. The French Revolution is the same, except it was like decades and even centuries of poverty and oppression to make them snap.

Inequity of "The Old Regime" 9/22/10
Source : http://www.freeessays.cc/db/21/emr162.shtml

The First Estate consisted of the higher Nobles and the Clergy of France. They were the richest, most spoiled of the three estates for they were loaded with money, land, and power. The Second Estate was the rest of the nobility. This estate was generally rich, had a good amount of money, land, and power, and was exempt from taxation as well. Both the First and Second Estates were born into Nobility. The Third Estate was anyone who was not considered nobility or clergyman (peasants, middle class, urban workers). They were the only estate that was taxed and out of all the estates, they were the poorest and least influential.

New View on the French Revolution 9/22/10
People of the Third Estate, mainly the poorer peasants and farmers, were dying because they were starving and the taxation left them with no money. The richer Third Estate, merchants and business owners, used the opprotunity before them and mobilized the Third Estate as a two-part weapon. The opprotunists were the richer Third Estate, and the avengers were the tools that were used, or the poorer Third Estate. Put together, the Third Estate broke out into the French Revolution.

CCQ on the Good and the Bad of the "Old Regime" 9/22/10
In my honest views, I believe that the Third Estate was just while the First and Second Estates were the villains in the Old Regime. The Third Estate, whether they were poor peasants or farmers, middle-class urban workers, or filthy rich merchants and business owners, was getting the short end of the stick. All taxation was poured onto them and they suffered for it; people were starving, dying, and some were losing money and knew that the money they gave up was going to people who did nothing for a living. As for the First and Second Estate, the government system was rigged so that nobles, even those poorer than some Third Estate merchants and business owners, could avoid all taxation, live luxurious lives, and exert power and influence while doing nothing but live a fabulous life. Only people from the First and Second Estate were given the choice to move up the social ladder while the Third Estate wasn't. Where is the equality there? If anything, unlike the American Revolution, the French Revolution is plainly justified by the amount of unfairness and oppression brought upon by the Old Regime.

Before Wordle on the Storming of the Bastile 9/23/10

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Before Wordle on the Storming of the Bastile 9/23/10

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